NUTS-3 LV009 · Latvia
Population
221,9312025
GDP
€3,067M2023
Unemployment· NUTS-2 source
6.9%2025
Employment· NUTS-2 source
78.2%2025
Active firms· FR-only
—
Cadastral parcels· FR-only
—
Area
10,746.7 km²
TerraSight · Compare
2 regions side-by-side
LV009 · PL623
Decision brief
Download brief (PDF)mandate-neutral · ranked by overall opportunity
Best overall fit: Zemgale (Opportunity 29). Runner-up: Ełcki (27). Contrarian pick: Ełcki — leads the set on Cost advantage (EU pctl 92).
#1Zemgale
Strengths
Freight intensity (86) · Cost advantage (84)
Red flags
Economic base (EU bottom 15%)
Demographic outlook (EU bottom 15%)
#2Ełcki
Strengths
Cost advantage (92) · Energy cost (79)
Red flags
Economic base (EU bottom 15%)
Connectivity (EU bottom 15%)
Governance (EU bottom 15%)
Why you might not pick Zemgale
Economic base (EU bottom 15%); Demographic outlook (EU bottom 15%). Its weakest dimension is Demographic outlook (EU pctl 1) — Ełcki may suit a mandate that weights that higher.
How robust is this recommendation?
The leader depends on the mandate: Logistics → Zemgale · Manufacturing → Zemgale · Office → Zemgale · Residential → Ełcki.
Phase-2 diligence checklist
- Site-level grid connection capacity and power pricing (beyond country-grain energy data)
- Local incentives, tax regimes and permitting timelines
- Workforce depth for your specific roles (the talent pillar is a proxy)
- Real-estate availability, rents and land — public pan-EU data stops at the Nordics
This is a mandate-neutral read. To weight the pillars to your thesis, run these regions through the Site Screener — it ranks all 1,211 regions under your weights and exports the full PDF. First-pass macro screening, not investment advice.
Composite intelligence · 0–100 EU-percentile scores
Opportunity Indexscale + growth + access + structure
28.5
27.0
Resilience Indexdiversification, stability, buffers
31.3
33.5
Quality of Lifeprosperity, health, safety, environment
32.2
32.8
Clean AirPM2.5 / PM10 / NO₂ inverted
—
44.7
Connectivitytransit + air + market access
50.3
14.0
Talent & Human Capitalskills, learning, knowledge workers
56.8
21.8
Growth Momentumrecent GDP / employment trajectory
55.6
53.2
Trajectories · 2012–latest
Real GDP (2020 prices)
1.3% 5y
2.8% 5y
Population
0.7% 5y
1.9% 5y
Unemployment rate
1.1% 5y
0.0% 5y
Derived comparisons
GDP per capita
€13,818
€11,806
Population density
21 /km²
40 /km²
Parcels per 1k pop
FR-only
FR-only
Firms per 1k pop
FR-only
FR-only
All indicators · 89 metrics (Eurostat, all-EU)
Economy
Gross value added, total (current prices)
€2,696M
€2,710M
GVA — agriculture, forestry & fishing (A)
€334M
€290M
GVA — industry (B–E)
€719M
€616M
GVA — manufacturing (C)
€502M
€508M
GVA — construction (F)
€161M
€215M
GVA — wholesale/retail, transport, ICT (G–J)
€527M
€577M
Net disposable household income per capita (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
€12,000
€10,600
GDP per capita in PPS (purchasing-power adjusted)
17,300 PPS
17,000 PPS
GDP per capita (current prices, EUR)
€13,600
€11,500
Gross fixed capital formation — investment (total economy) ·N2
€9,718M
€3,635M
Investment in manufacturing capex (GFCF, NACE C) ·N2
€1,006M
€684M
Compensation of employees (total wage bill) ·N2
€21,296M
€7,205M
GVA — real estate activities (L)
€203M
—
GVA — information & communication (J)
€25M
—
GVA — finance, real estate & professional (K–N)
€326M
€390M
GVA — public admin, health & education (O–U)
€630M
€622M
Real GDP (constant 2020 prices, incl. short-term forecast)
€2,501M
€2,618M
Labour productivity per person employed (EUR)
€37,386
€36,902
Gross fixed capital formation, NUTS-3 (ARDECO)
€784M
€689M
Labour market
Employment, total persons
91,010
99,800
Self-employed persons
12,680
20,900
Employment in manufacturing (C)
14,990
19,400
Activity rate, 15–64 (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
77.6%
71.9%
Youth unemployment rate (15–24) ·N2
14.8%
17.5%
Unemployment rate 15-74, NUTS-3 native (ARDECO)
6.9%
3.4%
Labour force aged 15+ (ARDECO)
113,800
118,900
Business demography
Active enterprises (business economy, all sizes)
11,689
13,323
Enterprise births
1,573
1,423
Enterprise deaths
792
1,961
3-year enterprise survival rate
5.0%
5.5%
Innovation & R&D
R&D expenditure as % of GDP ·N2
0.9%
1.0%
Employment in high-tech sectors (% of total) ·N2
5.3%
2.0%
R&D personnel (% of active population, FTE) ·N2
0.8%
0.5%
Education
Tertiary education attainment, age 25–64 ·N2
40.7%
31.4%
Tertiary attainment, age 25–34 (young talent pool) ·N2
44.7%
33.5%
Adult participation in learning, age 25–64 (last 4 weeks) ·N2
11.4%
5.8%
Knowledge workers — tertiary-educated & in science/tech (% of labour force) ·N2
24.8%
20.0%
Scientists & engineers (% of labour force) ·N2
8.0%
6.9%
Digital
Households with internet access ·N2
94.1%
93.4%
Tourism
Nights spent at tourist accommodation (total)
191,739
962,816
Mobility
Passenger cars per 1,000 inhabitants ·N2
424 /1k
597 /1k
Road freight loaded (annual, thousand tonnes)
11,057 kt
9,206 kt
Distinct public-transport stop locations within the region (GTFS feeds, deduplicated across overlapping feeds by coordinate). A measure of transit-network extent.
2,498
463
Public-transport stops per 100,000 inhabitants — transit service density relative to population (GTFS feeds, coordinate-deduplicated).
1,126
182
Motorway density (km per 1,000 km²) ·N2
—
0 km/1000km²
Distance from the region centroid to the nearest major (large) airport, in km - air-connectivity accessibility. Lower is better.
59
147
Number of major (large) airports within 100 km of the region centroid - air-hub catchment richness.
1
0
Demography
Population aged 15–64 (working age)
139,736
164,238
Population aged 65+
47,918
52,886
Population aged under 15
34,277
36,947
Median age of population
44.4 yrs
43.9 yrs
Old-age dependency ratio (65+ / 15–64)
34.3%
32.2%
Crude rate of total population change
-11.7 /1k
-7.9 /1k
Crude rate of net migration plus adjustment
-4.4 /1k
-3.0 /1k
Crude birth rate
6.9 /1k
6.4 /1k
Crude death rate
14.2 /1k
11.3 /1k
Live births
1,551
1,639
Deaths
3,173
2,887
Total age-dependency ratio (young+old / 15-64)
58.8%
54.7%
Total fertility rate (births per woman)
1.34
1.16
Population density (persons per km²)
21 /km²
44 /km²
Projected population, 2030–2040 (EUROPOP2019 baseline)
108,221
180,417
Social
At risk of poverty or social exclusion (AROPE) ·N2
24.7%
19.6%
Life expectancy at birth ·N2
76.4 yrs
77.9 yrs
At-risk-of-poverty rate (regional) ·N2
22.0%
18.0%
Health
Hospital beds per 100k inhabitants ·N2
—
584 /100k
Mortality, all causes (age-standardised rate) ·N2
1,728 /100k
1,595 /100k
Cancer mortality (age-standardised rate) ·N2
278 /100k
255 /100k
Safety & crime
Intentional homicides per 100k inhabitants
2.7 /100k
0.4 /100k
Robberies per 100k inhabitants
8.0 /100k
14.8 /100k
Burglaries per 100k inhabitants
129 /100k
160 /100k
Thefts per 100k inhabitants
514 /100k
162 /100k
Road traffic deaths per million inhabitants ·N2
60 /M
63 /M
Governance & institutions
Government effectiveness, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)
0.73
0.52
Regulatory quality, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)
0.96
0.69
Rule of law, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)
1.01
0.35
Control of corruption, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)
0.82
0.67
Political stability & absence of violence, WGI score (country)
0.78
0.54
Energy
Industrial electricity price, 2-20 GWh band, excl. taxes (national)
€0.114/kWh
€0.113/kWh
Industrial gas price, 10-100k GJ band, excl. taxes (national)
€0.050/kWh
€0.064/kWh
Climate
Elevation at region centroid (Copernicus DEM)
29 m
146 m
Hot days ≥30°C (avg per year)
3 days/yr
3 days/yr
Frost days ≤0°C (avg per year)
108 days/yr
96 days/yr
Heavy-precipitation days ≥20mm (avg per year)
2 days/yr
3 days/yr